Chapter 818 The sound of flesh hitting synthetic leather echoed through the gym like gunshots. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. It was six in the morning. The estate was silent, except for the violence happening in the west wing. I stood in the doorway, wrapped in a silk robe, watching. Alistair was

Chapter 817 Alistair’s voice came from the living room. He appeared in the doorway, leaning slightly against the frame. His recovery was miraculous, but the toxin had taken a toll on his stamina. He looked at me, then at Lucian, sensing the static in the air immediately. “I’m fine,” I

Chapter 816 The rain in this city didn’t wash anything clean; it just made the grime slicker. Tonight, it felt like the sky was weeping for a world on the brink of collapse. We had touched down at the private airfield six hours ago, cutting our honeymoon short the moment

Chapter 815 We didn’t let the text ruin the party. We danced. We drank. We celebrated. But later that night, as we stood on the balcony of our honeymoon suite, watching the moonlight ripple across the water, reality settled in. “The Blue Phoenix,” Alistair mused. “Who do you think it

Chapter 814 Six months later. The wedding wasn’t big. It wasn’t a media spectacle. It was on a private island—just family and friends. I wore a dress that didn’t look like armor. It looked like a cloud. Richard walked me down the aisle. He was frailer, but he was smiling.

Chapter 813 The fallout was nuclear. The data dump destroyed careers, toppled governments, and bankrupted the Syndicate overnight. The police—the honest ones, backed by the Feds who had been watching the livestream—rounded up the remaining members. We found the other captives the Syndicate had been holding as leverage against other

Chapter 812 Alistair was already there, holding the door open. He looked pale, the exertion taking its toll, but he was steady. A helicopter was waiting. Not ours. It was black. Unmarked. A man stepped out. He wore a pristine suit. He held a tablet in one hand and a

Chapter 811 The Helios Convention Center was a glass cathedral of capitalism. Security was tight, but Lucian’s team was tighter. We slipped in through the service entrance. I stood backstage, my heart hammering against my ribs. I wore a white suit—armor. “Five minutes,” the stage manager said, looking confused as

Chapter 810 The drive back to Cliffside was silent. The explosion had rattled us. The Architect was willing to scorch the earth to stop us. “We can’t hide anymore,” I said, breaking the silence. “He has drones. He has missiles. He has infinite money. If we stay in the shadows,

Chapter 809 We dragged Bennett—whose real name was likely not Bennett, but some mercenary designation—into the garage. Lucian zip-tied him to a chair. His hand was a mess of blood and broken bone. Alistair sat on a stool, pale but focused. “Who hired you?” Alistair asked. “Go to hell,” the

Chapter 808 The next morning, the air was thick with humidity. I found Bennett in the garden, smoking a cigarette. He looked relaxed, staring out at the ocean. “Beautiful view,” he said without turning. “Alistair is a lucky man.” “He worked for it,” I said, stopping a few feet away.

Chapter 807 I waited until Bennett was back in the living room before I bolted into the master bedroom. Alistair was sitting up, watching the security feed on a tablet. “I saw it,” Alistair said before I could speak. “Military-grade decoder. NSA stuff or worse.” “He’s here for the Insight

Chapter 806 The living room of Cliffside Haven was a masterpiece of Brutalist architecture—concrete, glass, and minimalism. Bennett was currently doing his best to ruin it with his oily presence. “This sofa is too hard,” Victoria complained, sitting next to him, playing her part with a dedication that deserved an

Chapter 805 “They aren’t.” Alistair’s hand gripped the armrest of his wheelchair until his knuckles turned white. “Parker is inside. Victoria is inside. Who the hell is that?” The helicopter didn’t wait for clearance. It set down right in the center of the manicured lawn, the rotor wash flattening the

Chapter 804 The storm had finally broken, leaving the morning sky scrubbed raw—a bruised purple fading into a pale, deceptive blue. But the air at Cliffside Haven didn’t feel clean. It felt heavy. Charged. Like the static that builds in the split second before a lightning strike. I stood on

Chapter 803 The plan was madness. We arrived at the Old Ironworks as the sun began to bleed over the horizon. It was a skeletal structure of rusted beams and silent furnaces. I walked into the main yard alone, wearing a Kevlar vest under my trench coat. I held a

Chapter 802 The wind howled outside, masking the sound of boots on gravel. I sat in the security hub, eyes glued to the monitors. “Target identified,” I spoke into the comms. “Sector 4. RPG.” “RPG?” Liam’s voice cracked over the radio. “They brought rockets?” “Activating countermeasures,” I said. I typed